


Dragonsfire

by consumptive_sphinx



Category: The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Dragons, F/M, but sometimes, fairytale AU, hey look sometimes I write het things, not very often
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-12
Updated: 2015-05-12
Packaged: 2018-03-30 04:44:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3923398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/consumptive_sphinx/pseuds/consumptive_sphinx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dragons never really leave their princesses, and their princesses never really want them to.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dragonsfire

Prince Haldir has to drag her, kicking and screaming, from her dragon's body.

"Trauma," the palace healer calls it. "She doesn't realise she's safe now." 

Arwen knows better, and even when Prince Haldir kneels down beside her and holds her hands tight and says, "It's alright, my love, I've got you, don't be afraid, the dragon is gone" -- even then, she will not speak to him.

They took her dragon from her. And she does not trust a single one of them.

=+=+=+=

She marries Prince Haldir, or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that Prince Haldir marries her.

The ceremony is gorgeous, a perfect happily-ever-after that nobody asked whether Arwen wanted.

And that night, when she refuses him, he does not push her: but Arwen dreams of silver eyes and warm obsidian scales, of a body that could change its shape at will, of one whom she would not have refused in the first place.

=+=+=+=

Court life is stifling.

There is no space here, nowhere for Arwen to kick off her too-tight shoes and run the way she used to love. Some days, she feels as if she has to gasp for breath, as if there isn't enough air to fill up her lungs.

=+=+=+=

One day a knight arrives in court, in silver armour that gleams in the sunlight, and he pledges alliegiance, not to Prince Haldir or his younger brothers, not the the King or the Queen, but to Arwen.

"What is your name?" she asks, and her voice does not shake, though it wants to. 

The knight removes his helm to reveal a face that Arwen knows, and says, "I am Aragorn, son of Arathorn, my lady."

And he smiles that crooked smile that he so loves, and Arwen smiles back.

She'd know her dragon anywhere.


End file.
